


Out of the Flames

by madmonnette



Series: Healing the Avengers [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: And I can't either, Gen, Italian nicknames, May is a good aunt, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Has A Heart, because Tony can't help himself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 01:15:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18272810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madmonnette/pseuds/madmonnette
Summary: Tony has an injured spider to take care of. It isn't easy, but they manage.





	Out of the Flames

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing but my emotions. The first one did really well, so I wrote a sequel. I'll probably do more.

Tony, ever mindful of his charge, got Peter to the compound and into a bedroom in the Iron Suite. Of course, the brat had fallen asleep in the car before Tony had finished tipping the McDonald’s employees. And of course, Tony did not have the heart to wake the kid up. So he carried the ridiculously light boy from the car and to his room. But that’s all he did. He definitely didn’t pull off Peter’s shoes and tuck him in. And he most certainly did not give him a kiss on the forehead and smooth back his hair to see the content smile on Peter’s face and smooth out his brow. And even though he did ask FRIDAY to track his vitals and alert him as soon as Peter’s sleep seemed to be disturbed, he was absolutely not going soft.

Tony walked out of Peter’s room and shut the door as softly as he could. He leaned on the wall next to the door and shakily exhaled. To think that this 15 year old had gone through all that and expected to be left alone or yelled at while he healed was heartbreaking. Tony had known that he wasn’t always good with people, but he had to better than this. He pulled out his phone and selected his 4th most used contact: May Parker.

Because even Tony Stark - genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist - knew better than to leave a parent in the dark when her son was trying to be a vigilante in the most pathetic excuse for a disguise he had ever seen in a city that never sleeps. Or behaves. And no way had he taken a 14 year old child to another country to fight actual superheroes without letting his legal guardian know. Yes, he was stupid and reckless, but only with his own life.

His first conversation with May Parker had taken almost all day. There had been a lot of ground to cover and an insane amount of negotiating. And crying. Turns out parents and guardians didn’t like being told that their child had developed some mutations and decided to secretly fight crime with no protection at all. Even better, they also didn’t like being asked if they would allow said child to not only continue, but fight on behalf of the Accords to bring in some of the most physically powerful people in the world. But apparently, if you were willing to put every safety feature known to man in a protective suit and promised to keep them updated and the child ruthlessly protected, they slowly began to warm up to the idea.

At this point, it was a little after 4 a.m. He knew May started work at 6. May always shared her schedule with him so they could actually have time to talk when they needed to or so that Tony knew to call her work phone if it was an emergency. So this was going to be a super fun start to her very long day.

The first call rang and went to voicemail. The second call she picked up just before it stopped ringing.

“Tony. ‘S Peter ok?” Her speech was slow and sleep jumbled but laced with concern.

“I’ve got him and he’s healing. He’ll be fine, physically, by tomorrow evening. Especially if I feed him all of the food in the compound.” He kept his voice soothing and calm.

May’s voice was still groggy but he could hear the background noise of her shifting to wake up and pay attention. “What happened? He was supposed to be at homecoming.”

“Just this kid’s luck, May. Turns out his date’s dad was an alien weapons manufacturer. Who, coincidentally, was stealing from me and the government and tried to do it again tonight.”

May was silent. Then she let out the longest-suffering sigh that Tony had ever heard. “You’re shitting me.”

“I wish I was, May. That guy did a real number on him too. How much do you want to know?”

“How badly am I going to freak out?”

“It’s not great. He’s probably going to have nightmares and PTSD. The usual superhero side effects.”

“I still don’t know how I’m okay with this.”

“You aren’t. But I think we just proved that we can’t stop him. I tried. God help me, May, I tried. But he had no protection tonight. And that’s my fault. And I am so, so sorry.”

“No, Tony. It’s not your fault. It’s our fault. We decided to take the suit away. We tried to stop him. And he just went for it anyway. He got up and did the right thing, even though we didn’t approve. Or protect him. This is on both of us.”

“He could’ve died, May. And it would have been my fault. It was my tech he was trying to save.”

“You think he did it just for you?” May snorted. “Part of his schtick is that he helps _everyone_. That could have been an Oscorp plane and he would have still gotten himself into a world of trouble. Stop blaming yourself, Tony. It’s unattractive.”

Tony let out an amused huff. “So what do you want to do now?”

“I’m still partial to letting him come to me himself.”

“I still think there is a 12% chance that he will. He’s trying to protect you from himself.”

“That boy is the most selfless person I’ve ever met. And it’s giving me heart palpitations.”

“Hey. I’m the one with the heart condition.”

“And a guilt complex to rival Peter’s.”

“You mind if I keep him this weekend?”

“Please. You can keep an eye on his healing. And he might actually listen to you. And you can force him to eat. He refuses to be a burden to me.”

Tony snorted. “How do you feel about getting him into therapy?”

May paused, obviously contemplating his question. “He’s going to resist. He’s going to say we can’t afford it. And that he can deal with it on his own.” 

“Then he’s getting a heart-to-heart about how all superheroes need therapy. And that it saved my life. And that it’s a superhero-in-training perk. Mental health package - all expenses paid.”

May laughed. “Oh he’ll love that.”

“And if he argues even more, I’ll say that it’s the least I can do for him saving me plane full of ideas and tech and the headache that would have come with retrieving it.”

“He’s going to resist.”

“I can work with that.”

May paused. “Are you going to try and convince him to tell me?”

Tony mulled it over. “I’ll bring it up. But I can’t promise anything.”

“I trust you, Tony. I trust you with him.”

“You shouldn’t.” It was a whisper. And it was choked. But he was sure May heard him.

He could hear the smile in her voice. “And yet, I do anyway.”

“I don’t deserve either of you, May.”

“Yes you do, Tony. You deserve so much. Have you talked to your therapist about this?”

“Yeah. She says I have a martyr complex and incredibly low self-worth. But what does she know?”

“You deserve for people to love you, Tony. I hope you can learn that sometime soon.”

Tony looked back at Peter’s door. “I think I might. I don’t think either of you will let me forget it anytime soon.”

“Damn straight we won’t. I’m going to get ready for work. You should get some sleep.”

“I doubt that. I’m too wired.”

“You’re not wired. You’re scared. And feeling guilty. Take a shower. Lay down. Shut your eyes. You’ll feel better.”

“That. Doesn’t sound horrible.”

“No. It sounds amazing. Now. Go. Take care of yourself. And take care of Peter. And Tony?”

“Yes, May?”

“Thank you.”

She hung up before Tony could say anything. He stared at the phone in his hand. He looked back at Peter’s door. Then he walked off to follow May’s instructions.

* * *

Tony hadn’t even been laying down for 15 minutes when FRIDAY spoke up.

“Boss. Mister Parker seems to be in distress.”

Tony sighed. “Go figure. He lasted longer than I thought he would.” Tony threw off his covers and rushed toward Peter’s room.

Peter was curled in a ball crying when he got there. Before he could think about it, Tony had wrapped Peter in his arms and Peter curled straight into him, clinging to him like Tony was his last line to survival. Peter sobbed harder. Tony was hesitant to hold Peter too tight, with his broken ribs, but Peter was wriggling and flailing trying to get closer to Tony. So he wrapped one arm around Peter’s waist and the other against his back and into his hair and squeezed Peter as tight as he possibly could. Tony started rocking him back and forth as Peter sobbed into Tony’s chest.

“Sh. Peter. It’s ok, little one. You’re not alone. You’re safe. No one can hurt you here. I’ve got you, kid. You did so good. I’m so proud of you. You are so brave and strong. You can get through this. I believe in you, _piccolo_. Just let it out. And know that I’ve got you.”

Tony continued to rock Peter and whisper to him as his sobs gently quieted to hiccups and shaking breaths. Tony felt some of the tightness in his chest relax with Peter’s grip.

“Are you okay, _bambino_?”

Peter just nodded against his chest.

“Do you want to lay back down?”

Peter just clung to him tighter and let out another sob.

“It’s okay, _mimmo_ , I’m not going anywhere. I’m here as long as you need me.”

Peter’s grip didn’t loosen. Tony ran through everything that he could do for Peter. The deep pressure was clearly helping, but Tony was getting sore, he couldn’t keep it up for too much longer.

“You know, the first time I had a panic attack, I broke a crayon and scared the crap out of some kids. The middle of a restaurant, can you believe it? I lost it in public, rather suddenly and embarrassingly. And it was so unexpected. I thought I was having a heart attack. Imagine my surprise when JARVIS told me I was having an acute anxiety attack. I blasted away in the Iron Man armour, leaving Rhodey with the bill and a lot of questions. Then I refused to sleep for so long that I made so many mistakes. Which did not turn out well. It took Pepper and Rhodey almost dying for me to get some help. Not the best catalyst, I’ll admit. But she taught me a lot of good coping mechanisms. Like thinking about happy memories. Like the time that Rhodey found me trying to break into a lab at MIT. I was drunk and had a great idea. I do not recommend working with alcohol in your system, by the way. I in no way condone that behaviour, just to be clear.”

Peter huffed out a laugh against his chest. Tony smiled, glad his rambling was working. He started working the hand in Peter’s hair to gently comb through his now curly and wild hair.

“Despite Rhodey’s attempts otherwise, I made it into the lab, and completely trashed it trying to piece together whatever was going on in my head. I tried to write on a lab table with a stir stick. I broke glassware. Finally, Rhodey threw me over his shoulder and carried me back to our apartment. I kept trying to write equations on him. He was so irritated the next morning. I got quite the lecture. And a series of notes he wrote down about whatever I was talking about. It turned into my thesis for my first PhD. It was pretty basic stuff, but it did the job.”

Peter’s grip had loosened considerably at this point. Tony tried to pull away, but Peter gripped him tighter.

“Are you awake, squirt?”

Peter gave no response. Tony tried to lay him down, but the boy would not let go.

“Does this mean I’m your teddy bear for tonight?”

Tony got no response, just steady breathing from the child in his arms. He slowly laid both of them down, letting Peter wrap himself around him and seek the comfort he so desperately needed, even in sleep.

“I’m not going anywhere, _coraggioso_ , I’m right here. Sleep well.”

Unsurprisingly, they both slept without nightmares.

**Author's Note:**

> Itialian terms:
> 
> piccolo- little one  
> bambino - child  
> mimmo - child, but more affectionate  
> coraggioso - bravee one


End file.
